Professor Sidi A. Bencherif joined Northeastern University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering in 2016. Prior to coming to Northeastern University, he was a research associate at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. Since 2015, he has been awarded the prestigious CNRS CR1 title (senior researcher) at the largest French governmental research organization and is currently appointed as an adjunct professor at the University of Technology of Compiègne in France. Prof. Bencherif received two First Class Honors Masters degrees in Physics and Chemistry (2000) and then in Materials and Technology Engineering (2002) from Montpellier II University in France. Prof. Bencherif moved to the United States in 2002 and worked for the US Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a guest researcher in the Polymer Division. In 2005, he joined the Department of Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University where he received in 2009 a Master’s degree in Polymer Science and a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry under the supervision of Profs. Matyjaszewski and Washburn. Following his PhD, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Prof. Mooney at Harvard University and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. His research interests include developing minimally invasive and naturally derived cryo-treated biomaterials useful for a number of bio-related applications. His work on the development of injectable preformed scaffolds with shape memory properties (the first large-scale 3D porous scaffold to be successfully injectable trough a standard syringe) has produced bioscaffolds suitable for tissue engineering applications, controlled cell/drug delivery, cell reprograming, and more recently cancer immunotherapy. Prof. Bencherif has authored and co-authored over 50 journal articles in top journals (Science, PNAS, Nature Materials, Nature Communications, etc.), international conference proceedings, reviews and patent applications, and is the recipient of several fellowships, honors and awards.

Injectable 3D Cryogels for Biomedical Applications

Injectable biomaterials are increasingly being explored to minimize risks and complications associated with surgical implantation. Highly elastic cryogels with shape-memory properties have recently been developed to be injected through a small-bore needle with nearly complete geometric restoration once delivered. Cryogels displaying an interconnected macroporous structure can be molded to a variety of shapes and sizes, and may be optionally loaded with therapeutic agents or cells. These injectable scaffolds show great promise for various biomedical applications, including tissue engineering, cell transplantation, drug delivery, and cancer immunotherapy.